German nurse jailed for life for "mercy killings"

By
Euronews

A German nurse has been jailed for life for killing 28 patients for whom he said he felt compassion. A court in the Bavarian town of Kempten convicted 28-year old Stephan Letter of 12 counts of murder, 15 counts of manslaughter and one of mercy killing.

Most of the victims were elderly. The killings took place in the Sonthofen clinic in Bavaria from January 2003 until his arrest in the summer of 2004. He admitted injecting the patients with a lethal mixture of tranquilisers and muscle relaxant, but denied charges he acted with malice. More than 80 deaths at the clinic were deemed suspicious, but many of the bodies have been incinerated hindering any further investigation. The case is being considered one of the country’s worst ever serial killing sprees.